


maybe as his skies are wide

by klainelynch



Series: a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Aang & Bumi II - Freeform, Aang is a good dad, Air Temple Island, Gen, Iroh is my favorite character and I just want him to be everyone’s Uncle, I’m going NICHE niche with chapter 3, Katara & Bumi II - Freeform, POV Aang (Avatar), POV Bumi II (Avatar), POV Katara (Avatar), Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra, Republic City, Sokka & Bumi II - Freeform, Writer’s Month 2020, unless I’m mistaken this is the first Bumi II & Iroh fic on this site?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25651360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainelynch/pseuds/klainelynch
Summary: Ch.1— Aang takes his son on a walk, and Bumi reminds him about what it means to be an Air NomadCh. 2— Bumi (with a bit of help from his Uncle Sokka) puts on a magic show for his whole familyCh. 3— While everyone is celebrating the world’s newest Airbender, Bumi gets some help from his Uncle Iroh
Relationships: Aang & Bumi II, Bumi II & Iroh (Avatar), Bumi II & Katara
Series: a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859692
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer’s month [prompt](https://writersmonth.tumblr.com/prompts) #1 Tattoo artist/flower shop AU. Definitely took some liberties with this prompt.

Aang couldn’t remember the last time he had taken a day off. Katara insisted that he had been working too much lately, which made him smirk and parrot her words back at her. Neither of them liked to sit around and let others solve the world's problems, but they both knew how to get the other one to slow down. In Aang’s case, that meant weaponizing one of their children, and Katara knew that Aang was no match for Bumi’s puppy dog eyes.

Today was a day for exploring. Bumi had declared it as such, and Aang was powerless against his oldest son's adventurous spirit. Sometimes he felt like he was losing touch with his Air Nomad roots with how much time he had been spending in Republic City. Bumi reminded him of his need to just go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Once they stepped off the ferry from Air Temple Island, Aang let Bumi take the lead. They walked down streets that he hadn’t seen since he was a teenager, and some that he hadn’t even known were here. Sometimes it shocked Aang, seeing how many people lived in the city he had helped to shape. There had been a time when he couldn’t imagine having a singular location as a home, but Republic City had crept into his heart.

"Hey Dad," Bumi said. "Check it out!"

Aang turned and looked at what his son was pointing at, and his brow furrowed. The row of shops looked rundown, even though this part of the city wasn’t part of the original Cranefish Town. They were buildings that seemed to have been built to fall apart. And right where Bumi was pointing was a tattoo shop and—

“A flower shop?” he asked, hoping that’s what Bumi was pointing to.

“Yeah!” Bumi exclaimed. “We should get Mom some of those flowers she likes. I have some money from my allowance— please, Dad?”

Aang chuckled and hugged Bumi’s shoulder. “Of course. I think she would love some flowers that you picked out for her.”

The overwhelming fragrance hit both of their noses as soon as they opened the door, but while it knocked Aang back a step, it only seemed to spur on Bumi. He darted from pot to pot, debating which one would be best, before finally deciding on a handful of sunflowers.

“Are these for a special someone?” the woman at the counter asked.

“My mom,” Bumi said as he proudly counted out the coins for his purchase. The woman exchanged a knowing smile with Aang. He wasn’t sure if she recognized him; if she did, she didn’t say anything. He was just a father out with his son today, and it felt wonderful to be so ordinary.

As they left, Bumi glanced back at the shops and smirked. “You thought I wanted to go in the tattoo shop, didn’t you?”

“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Aang said. “But I think nine is a little too young to be thinking about tattoos.”

“No it’s not! When I’m a grown-up, I’m going to get a bunch of tattoos, even more than you!”

Aang laughed as he ruffled Bumi’s hair. "You always have been my wild child, you know that?"

"Yeah, Mom says that all the time," Bumi said as he ducked away from Aang. A sudden serious face appeared; Aang wasn't sure that he had ever seen that expression on his son's face.

"I'm not a part of the Air Nation, am I?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Aang's heart jumped up to his throat. He had known this conversation would be coming, ever since he and Katara realized that Bumi wasn't able to bend air or water. He had both dreaded it and hoped to get it over with.

"Bum, you know your mom and I love you more than anything, right?"

He nodded but kept looking at the ground. Aang grabbed his hands and knelt in front of him. He was vaguely aware of people glaring at them, stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, but he didn't care about them. He cared about his son.

"It's true, you're not an airbender. But the Air Nomads were so much more than benders— they were kind, and creative, and they knew how to have fun.” He smiled, and ducked his head low enough to catch Bumi’s eyes. “Remind you of anyone?"

Bumi sniffed and squeezed Aang's hands. "Yeah, I guess I'm kind of like that sometimes."

Aang reached out and hugged Bumi, who returned the gesture just as fiercely. "You have the spirit of the Air Nomads more than anyone else I know, and when you add in that special Bumi flavor? There's no one who can stand in your way."

"Thanks, Dad," he heard Bumi whisper. Aang gave him one final squeeze and smiled.

“Let’s head home, buddy. Want to tell me what kind of tattoos you’re going to get?”

His eyes lit up as his trademark goofy smile returned. “Yeah! I’m gonna get a boomerang, because Uncle Sokka says I’m even better with it than he is, and an elephant rhino, because they’re the best animals in the whole world, and…”

.

By the time they arrived home, Bumi was up to thirty-seven tattoos, and Aang had no idea where he planned on fitting them all, but he was back to his usual self once again, and that was all Aang could ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never believed that Aang was a perfect dad, but I think he was a damn good one. Bumi and Kya were completely valid (in LoK s2) expressing their frustrations that Aang loved Tenzin more than them, because I’m sure it felt that way. But you can’t tell me Aang didn’t love each one of his kids with his entire heart. No way.
> 
> Also, I had Aang call Bumi “Bum” at one point as a callback to “Bum-Ju.” I imagine that Bumi would use his dad’s nickname for him in his naming of the dragonfly bunny spirit, even if he told everyone that it just stood for “Bumi Junior”.
> 
> Series title is a lyric from Rush’s “Far Cry,” and fic title is a lyric from Rush's "Tom Sawyer."
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated <3
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [klainelynch](https://klainelynch.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bumi (with a bit of help from his Uncle Sokka) puts on a magic show for his whole family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer’s month [prompt](https://writersmonth.tumblr.com/prompts) #3 Magic.

“Tomorrow is the talent show,” Bumi declared. It was the first anyone had heard about it, but everyone knew it was easier to just go along with Bumi’s ideas than try to figure out how he had come up with them. For the rest of the day, Bumi walked around with a clipboard and demanded that each person sign up with a talent. Katara was able to convince him that it might be better to let people sign up if they had a talent in mind, but not force anyone into doing something they didn’t want to do.

“Besides,” she said, “you need time to practice your own talent.”

He just grinned and said, “Oh, my talent is ready to go.”

.

The talent show ended up taking place all over Zuko’s house on Ember Island. Most of the adults had a talent that wasn’t safe to perform indoors, whether it involved bending or weapons (or for Zuko, a combination of both that left his daughter beaming with pride). Aang pulled out his marbles and everyone groaned, but he threw them up in the air and shot a precise flame at each one. Confetti exploded out as each one burst into flames, and Aang’s grin was infectious.

“Thought your old man had an old trick, did you?” he said as he rumpled Bumi’s hair.

“Yeah, I guess you still have a few tricks, Dad. Now let’s all move inside for your last act of the night— me!” He gestured everyone into the main room and let them get comfortable as he positioned himself at the front of the room behind a small table. Clearing his throat dramatically, he held up a piece of paper in the air.

“Look at this— just an ordinary piece of paper, yes?” He turned it around every which way, and allowed the audience to see that, yes, it was just a piece of paper. “Kya, would you come up to the front and make sure that I’m telling the truth?”

She jumped up from Katara’s side and uncharacteristically did exactly as her brother asked. He thanked her, and she found a new seat next to Izumi up front. Katara was glad that the cousins had this time to spend together, and settled into Aang’s side.

"Now that we have established that this is but an ordinary piece of paper, I am going to do something extraordinary with it. I bet that I can cut a hole through this piece of paper and step through to the other side!" 

Bumi beamed and waited for the sounds of disbelief from his audience. As the adults played up the drama, Bumi's grin grew even more wild. For Kya and Izumi, their disbelief was genuine. Katara caught her brother's eye, and he winked. Even though she didn't know how Bumi planned on living up to this wild claim, she knew that Sokka had helped him figure it out. There was never any limit to the chaos those two came up with together.

"First, I need someone to bring me my magical scissors," Bumi said. He looked around his audience before Suki raised her hand. "Aunt Suki, if you would be so kind," Bumi said with a flourish.

Suki grabbed the scissors from the nearby drawer and presented them with a bow. Bumi thanked her and held them in the air with all the drama of a leading man from the local theatre troupe.

"First, I will fold this paper in half, and make six cuts from the crease almost to the end of the page." He got about halfway through this task before Kya huffed impatiently. Rather than get annoyed at her, Bumi smiled.

"If you doubt my ability to perform this amazing feat, then feel free to come closer and see for yourself," he said.

The girls immediately scrambled to their feet and crowded around the table. Katara considered standing up for a better look, but Aang's arm wrapped around her shoulder felt so nice that she decided to just wait it out.

"It will take a minute for him to make all the cuts," Sokka whispered.

"And how much paper did you two waste getting this trick down?"

"Less than you would think!" Sokka said. Katara raised an eyebrow. "Alright, it was still a lot of paper. But it will be worth it, just watch."

By this point, Bumi had flipped the paper around and had made the same number of cuts from the open side towards the creased side.

"Do you have any idea where he's going with this?" Aang murmured in her ear.

"No idea," she said. "But knowing Sokka helped him means it won't make sense until the very end." Sokka looked like he wanted to smack her, but Katara pointed to her pregnant stomach.

"Unh uhn— no hitting the pregnant lady."

He snorted. “I think you get pregnant just to use that excuse.”

"Shhh— he's almost done," Suki interrupted.

"And with the last cut on this inside crease, I will finally be able to prove my magical abilities," Bumi was saying. Katara sat up just enough to see Bumi hold the paper at the ends, and a ring of paper clearly large enough for even the adults to step through appeared. Everyone burst into applause, the girls a bit more reluctant to do so.

"I'm not sure that's really magic," Izumi said when it all calmed down. "You just knew where to cut to make a ring. That's math, not magic."

"What is math but the explanation for why magic works?" Bumi replied.

Katara looked at Sokka, who was giving his nephew two big thumbs up, and knew that he had probably written that line for him. She reached over and squeezed his arm softly.

“Thank you,” she said. “He looks up to you so much, and I know this meant a lot to him.”

“Of course,” Sokka smiled. “He’s a great kid.”

It had been weird at first, to return to the house where they spent the final days of the war, but Katara knew that _these_ were the nights she would always remember. Her entire family was together, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine that Sokka would want to teach Bumi everything he knows, and using geometry to make a magic trick seems like the inevitable combination of that friendship. The magic trick itself can be seen [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E-Qnfo8ql8).
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated, and you can find me on tumblr at [klainelynch](https://klainelynch.tumblr.com/).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer’s month [prompt](https://writersmonth.tumblr.com/prompts) #13 Music

It was too much. Bumi slipped through the back door and ran down the stairs, past the training arena and the bison keep, and didn’t stop until he reached the cliffside. The air hit his face, and it felt cool. Salty. Finally, he felt like he wasn't suffocating. No one was watching him, and he could just breathe. Well, no one had been watching him inside either, but now he didn’t have to hope for anyone to spare a glance for _poor Bumi_ , the only nonbender in his entire family.

He didn’t think he would care this much. He had told everyone that he didn’t care, and he tried to mean it. Apparently, he wasn’t that good at lying to himself.

“I speak from experience when I say that one of the hardest things in life is being surrounded by people who are happy when you can’t imagine feeling that way ever again,” a quiet voice said.

He hadn’t even noticed Uncle Iroh following him. Usually he was good at noticing things like that; maybe he just wasn’t good at anything anymore.

“I’m sorry, Uncle. I think I just need to be alone right now.”

Uncle put his hand on Bumi’s shoulder. He had passed him several growth spurts ago, but Bumi got the sense that he would always feel like a little kid around Uncle. It wasn’t a bad feeling.

“Of course you do,” he said, “and I’m going to be alone with you.”

The tears in his throat meant that Bumi coughed as he laughed, and Uncle helpfully smacked him on the back a few times.

“Go to my room and grab a couple of instruments for us to play,” he said. “Meet me by the fire pit— tonight calls for a music night.”

By the time Bumi arrived with a pipa, two flutes, and a tsungi wrapped around his waist, Uncle had a nice fire going. It was a cool autumn night, and Bumi was grateful for the warmth. Uncle smiled when he saw how full Bumi’s arms were. “I couldn’t pick,” he shrugged. “And someone might join us.”

“Very true.”

Bumi sat next to Uncle and plucked at the strings of the pipa. He didn’t have much practice with it, and was grateful when Uncle moved his hands to the right placements. They stayed like that for awhile, Bumi struggling through a simple melody but slowly getting the hang of it with Uncle’s help before he finally asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” Bumi said, before immediately contradicting himself. “It’s just— I get that it’s a big deal. I know Dad’s excited he’s no longer the only Airbender, and I’m happy for Tenzin.” His younger brother may have only been four, but he had been attached to Bumi’s hip ever since he could keep up with him. Then Tenzin knocked him over from ten feet away, and everyone swarmed from the four corners of the earth to celebrate the miracle. “I’m just worried everything is going to change.” He set the pipa down and pulled his knees up to his chest, tears threatening to spill out once again.

“Well I hate to be the one to tell you, but things _will_ change.”

Bumi’s head popped up and he glared at Uncle. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me that everything will be okay, that my parents still love me, you know— make me feel better?”

Uncle laughed, but it wasn’t a laugh at him. It was just an Uncle laugh. “Of course your parents still love you,” he said. “But life _is_ change. We can’t pretend otherwise. What we _can_ do is adapt to those changes, and you, young man, are an expert at overcoming new difficulties. Take our music lesson just now,” he said, putting the pipa back into Bumi’s hands. “How many times had you played it before tonight?”

“Just a couple,” he mumbled.

“And with only a bit of guidance, you now have an entire song mastered,” Uncle smiled. “It’s understandable to feel anxious about the unknown, but I’m not worried about your ability to face it head-on.”

Bumi didn’t think he would ever understand Uncle’s ability to know exactly what he needed to hear to feel better. He stood up to give him a proper hug, and as he whispered his thanks, he hoped Uncle knew just how deep his gratitude went.

“Now, let’s play that song together. I think my tsungi would go perfectly with your pipa.”

It did, and when the next song was too much for Bumi to keep up with on the strings, he switched to the flute. It meant he couldn’t sing along anymore, but he could play much louder. So loud that he didn’t even notice his dad had joined them until he sat down on the bench next to them.

“I wondered who was playing outside,” he said. “Not surprised to see the pair of you down here.”

Uncle smiled and stretched his legs. “We’ve been learning how to play the pipa. Your eldest son is very bright— he picks up on things remarkably quickly.” It felt like an unusually pointed statement from Uncle, and Dad seemed to take it as such. He smiled at Bumi and murmured, “I know, Uncle.”

Bumi looked back down at his flute and played a quiet melody. He wasn’t mad at his dad. He wasn’t mad at anyone. Really. He stopped playing long enough to ask, “Won’t they miss you, up there at the party?” He tried to keep the bite out of his voice.

“They might,” Dad said, “but I missed _you_ up there,” and Bumi believed him. “Can I play with you?” He waited until Bumi nodded before grabbing the other flute. “It’s been a few years since I’ve picked up one of these, so let’s see how this goes.”

His first note was so sharp that Bumi dropped his own flute in alarm.

“Dad!”

“Sorry, sorry!”

A couple of minutes later, they had found their rhythm. Bumi had a tendency to play a bit too fast, but it was easier to stay on pace with Uncle when his dad was there. A lot of things were easier when his dad was there. He thought about telling him that, but he didn’t know how.

“They’re out here, Mom!”

Kya’s voice carried down the steps, and Uncle waved as he held a long note. It seemed like the entire party was making their way down the steps, but no one ran faster than his little sister.

“I want to be a part of music night,” she said with her hands on her hips.

Bumi handed her the pipa, but Kya just stared at it like it was a two-headed bug. “Well I don’t know what to do with this!”

Bumi smiled. “I could teach you how to play it—” she made a face “—or you could be our official dancer.” She squealed, and Bumi knew he had a winner. Kya started spinning around and waving her arms as if there was music to accompany her.

“How about a beat to match?” Uncle asked. Bumi recognized the tune and joined in, his fingers moving more nimbly than they had all night.

“I think I’ll join you,” Dad said as he set down his flute. He grabbed Kya’s hands and started leading her in a fast-paced komodo chicken walk. It didn’t take her long to figure out how to follow— every time Dad stepped forward with his hip, Kya took a mirrored step back. Soon they started adding in twirls, and kicks, and Bumi found it hard to play the flute since he was smiling so much.

A pair of arms wrapped around his torso, and Bumi saw Tenzin’s head tucked into his side.

“You play really good, Bum."

“Thanks, bud,” he said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Tenzin really was a sweet kid— painfully shy at times, and he had to be coaxed into playing with kids his age because he just wanted to tag along with Bumi— but a good kid. It was hard to be upset at the universe for making him an Airbender when Bumi loved him so much, and anyway, that wouldn’t be fair to Tenzin.

“I’m happy you’re an Airbender like Dad,” he said, and he was relieved to realize that he actually meant it. He felt Tenzin hug him even tighter as he whispered, “Me too.”

Uncle was right— things would change. But Bumi was the oldest, and it was his job to look out for his siblings, and he wouldn’t let that change no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the bulk of this during my first week back to work. Iroh’s speech to Bumi about feeling anxious but facing the unknown head-on just flowed out of my pen, and it was accidentally the exact thing I needed Iroh to tell me right now. To all my fellow teachers, and to any students/other school staff who are being forced back to school in unsafe conditions like I am, we have got to stick together because the (American) government does not give a damn about whether we live or die, and mutual solidarity is the only thing that will save us.
> 
> *gets off soapbox* So anyway thanks for reading :) Comments and kudos are always appreciated, especially in these times where serotonin is hard to come by.
> 
> Find me on tumblr at [klainelynch](https://klainelynch.tumblr.com/)


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